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Interim ruler to restore basic services

AFP

The U.S. interim administrator for Iraq, Jay Garner, greets a patient during a visit to the Yarmuk hospital in Baghdad on Monday.

BAGHDAD April 21. The retired U.S. General appointed as Iraq's post-war administrator arrived in Baghdad on Monday, while two more top members of Saddam Hussein's regime — including his son-in-law — were reported captured.

Landing at Baghdad's airport in his first post-war visit to the capital, retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner (65), said his priority was to restore basic services such as water and electricity as soon as possible — a task he said would take intense work.

The U.S. Central Command said forces had captured Abd al-Khaliq Abd al-Ghafar, Mr. Hussein's Scientific Research Minister, on Saturday — a development that could shed light on Iraq's nuclear programme. Mr. Abd al-Ghafar was the four of hearts in the U.S. military's most-wanted deck of cards.

Also, Mr. Hussein's son-in-law and one of the ousted President's bodyguards, both hiding in Syria, were persuaded to leave that country and surrendered to members of the opposition Iraqi National Congress in Baghdad, according to a spokesman for the group, Haider Ahmed.

In Baghdad, the U.S. military opened a warehouse to U.N. aid shipments and stockpiled flour on Sunday, trying to head off potential food shortages. Workers laboured to restore basic services like power and water. A convoy of food arrived over the weekend for the malnourished animals of Baghdad Zoo.

U.S. forces, together with returning Iraqi police, are trying to restore order until the interim authority led by Gen. Garner can take over.

Gen. Garner heads the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, set up by the U.S. administration to help rebuild Iraq and eventually turn authority over to the Iraqis.

AP

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